1470 MINIATURE LATIN MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS LEAF - ILLUMINATED IN GOLD - NO 8
Item History & Price
Choice Leaves, Finer than Gold, from the Word of GodTaste and see! It's sweeter than honey!! Psalm 19TheBIBLICAL ARCHIVESPresents
An Illuminated Miniature Book of Hours
3 5/16" x 2 33/64" [86mm x 64mm]
This BIBLICAL ARCHIVES offer is of ONE original 550 [c.1470] year old MACRO-MINIATURE manuscript [handwritten] leaf extracted from a Book of Hours, illuminated on vellum [animal skin] in gold, green, blu...e, purple and red. There are 16 lines to a page with 8 illuminated initials in gold and 8 horizontal bars also containing gold illumination. MEASUREMENTS: approx. 3 5/16" x 2 33/64" [84mm x 64mm], written space, approx. 1 47/64" x 1 19/64" [44mm x 33mm]. This offer comes with a Certificate of Historicity. This leaf is one of the smallest illuminated book of hours in the world.
Miniature Books
A miniature book is a very small book. Standards for what may be termed a miniature rather than just a small book have changed through time. Today, most collectors consider a book to be miniature only if it is 3 inches or smaller in height, width, and thickness, particularly in the United States. Many collectors consider nineteenth-century and earlier books of 4 inches to fit in the category of miniatures. Books from 3-4 inches in all dimensions are termed macro-miniature books. Books less than 1 inch in all dimensions are called micro-miniature books. Books less than 1/4 inch in all dimensions are known as ultra-micro-miniature books.
Miniature books stretch back far in history; many collections contain cuneiform tablets stretching back 2-4 thousand years, and exquisite medieval manuscript Books of Hours. Printers began testing the limits of size not long after the technology of printing began, and around 200 miniature books were printed in the sixteenth century. Exquisite specimens from the 17th century abound. In the 19th century, technological innovations in printing enabled the creation of smaller and smaller type. Fine and popular additions alike grew in number throughout the 19th century. While some miniature books are objects of high craft, bound in fine Moroccan leather, with gold decoration and excellent examples of woodcuts, etchings, and watermarks, others are cheap, disposable, sometimes highly functional items not expected to survive. Today, miniature books are produced both as fine works of art and craft for the purpose of commercial enterprise.
A Book of Hours
A Book of Hours is a devotional book containing prayers, Psalms and often readings from the Gospels that was used during medieval times for personal spiritual reflection. Many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were sometimes given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride. Although the most heavily gold illuminated Books of Hours were enormously expensive, a small book with little or no illumination was affordable much more widely, and increasingly so during the 15th century. The present example with its highly burnished gold illumination must have once been part of one of those manuscripts intended for a wealthy family.
NOTE: Potential buyers should satisfy themselves as to the exact text reference before they BUY IT NOW. BUY IT NOW and we will endeavour to ship within 3-5 business days of receipt of PayPal funds.
All BIBLICAL ARCHIVES listings are sold for the benefit of our worldwide ministries.
Keep an eye on us! There are more fantastic leaves to come, the Lord willing!!
An Illuminated Miniature Book of Hours
3 5/16" x 2 33/64" [86mm x 64mm]
This BIBLICAL ARCHIVES offer is of ONE original 550 [c.1470] year old MACRO-MINIATURE manuscript [handwritten] leaf extracted from a Book of Hours, illuminated on vellum [animal skin] in gold, green, blu...e, purple and red. There are 16 lines to a page with 8 illuminated initials in gold and 8 horizontal bars also containing gold illumination. MEASUREMENTS: approx. 3 5/16" x 2 33/64" [84mm x 64mm], written space, approx. 1 47/64" x 1 19/64" [44mm x 33mm]. This offer comes with a Certificate of Historicity. This leaf is one of the smallest illuminated book of hours in the world.
Miniature Books
A miniature book is a very small book. Standards for what may be termed a miniature rather than just a small book have changed through time. Today, most collectors consider a book to be miniature only if it is 3 inches or smaller in height, width, and thickness, particularly in the United States. Many collectors consider nineteenth-century and earlier books of 4 inches to fit in the category of miniatures. Books from 3-4 inches in all dimensions are termed macro-miniature books. Books less than 1 inch in all dimensions are called micro-miniature books. Books less than 1/4 inch in all dimensions are known as ultra-micro-miniature books.
Miniature books stretch back far in history; many collections contain cuneiform tablets stretching back 2-4 thousand years, and exquisite medieval manuscript Books of Hours. Printers began testing the limits of size not long after the technology of printing began, and around 200 miniature books were printed in the sixteenth century. Exquisite specimens from the 17th century abound. In the 19th century, technological innovations in printing enabled the creation of smaller and smaller type. Fine and popular additions alike grew in number throughout the 19th century. While some miniature books are objects of high craft, bound in fine Moroccan leather, with gold decoration and excellent examples of woodcuts, etchings, and watermarks, others are cheap, disposable, sometimes highly functional items not expected to survive. Today, miniature books are produced both as fine works of art and craft for the purpose of commercial enterprise.
A Book of Hours
A Book of Hours is a devotional book containing prayers, Psalms and often readings from the Gospels that was used during medieval times for personal spiritual reflection. Many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were sometimes given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride. Although the most heavily gold illuminated Books of Hours were enormously expensive, a small book with little or no illumination was affordable much more widely, and increasingly so during the 15th century. The present example with its highly burnished gold illumination must have once been part of one of those manuscripts intended for a wealthy family.
NOTE: Potential buyers should satisfy themselves as to the exact text reference before they BUY IT NOW. BUY IT NOW and we will endeavour to ship within 3-5 business days of receipt of PayPal funds.
All BIBLICAL ARCHIVES listings are sold for the benefit of our worldwide ministries.
Keep an eye on us! There are more fantastic leaves to come, the Lord willing!!
